Quiet People
by Tgonthefiery
Summary: AU. As Humanity prepares for an impending second war against the Monsters, children are put under extreme training exercises to prepare them for the battle. When a girl shows herself to have an affinity to magic over weapons, she escapes to the rumoured passage within Mount Ebott. There she discovers the skeleton Sans, who trains her in exchange for loyalty to the underground.
1. Barrier

**YES I KNOW IT'S ANOTHER SIDE STORY SO DON'T EXPECT IT TO BE UPDATED OFTEN! (at this point I'm just writing what I feel like writing. Expect more coming updates for Tears That Scar. I want to finish Arc 1 and Let Me Breathe by the end of this year).**

 **AU stuff: The stuff with Chara and Frisk never happened. They still exist, but they'll come in later. That basically means that Toriel and Asgore are still together so yay, but Sans still hates humans. And uh, Gaster's still the royal scientist. Alphys is probably sitting in a hole somewhere. Metatton is still around, though. The end.**

 **Uh, and review and stuff. Please.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **Barrier**

 _Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS._

 _One day, war broke out between the two races._

 _After a long battle, the humans were victorious._

 _They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell._

Every Human child was told the story of the war. There were always a few slight changes and exaggerations in the way that the tale was told, but the basic details were always the same: There had been a brutal war, the Humans had won, and a magic spell was woven to trap the Monsters underground. And as far as anyone knew, that was the end of the story. The Monsters, sealed away. All the troubles of the world reduced to mere nothingness.

At least, it had stayed that way for years after the war had ended. Not a peep from the ancient race which had once coexisted with the Humans on the surface. No one even questioned as to why the war had taken place. It had just been accepted its place in history, no one concerned for the fact that no Human document contained the details of the sudden divide between the two races. But then they had found Ebott.

Seven of Humanity's best magicians had done a fantastic job at keeping the Monsters underground. But in the process, they had forgotten the entire point of separating the two feuding races in the first place. And in the end, they had accidentally left a way to get into the underground. An entrance to the place where the race which Humans had persecuted now lived, never again able to harm Humanity.

It wasn't long before word of the entrance began to spread across the land. Crowds of people came to see, looking on in interest at the mountain housing the great drop to the land down below. But no one went down there. No one _dared_ to even lean over the edge of the great, gaping hole to see how deep it went. Because no matter how much they denied it, the Humans were terrified of the Monsters. Terrified of what they might do, if one of them was found down there.

Soon, Mount Ebott became nothing more than a tale, just as old and timeless as the war itself. Everyone knew of its supposed existence, but there had been a unanimous agreement through Humanity, that no one should _ever_ really know that the hole really was real. And so it became so, that when people spoke of Ebott, it was not about the hole which led to the underground, but of natural landmarks and scenery. The mountain was just another shape on the horizon, for the Humans to look at and wonder.

And for years, the new order remained. No one questioned the rules, and thus the new generations of Humans became more and more doubtful of Monsters truly existing. More and more reckless teenagers traversed their way to Ebott, but never found the hole which led to the underground. It was as if the mountain itself had decided that Humans and Monsters should remain separate, for their own good.

And so, that was how the legend of Undertale truly began.

* * *

 **xXx**

Melanie still remembered the day when the Human leaders had announced an inevitable second Human-Monster War. It had been broadcasted on TV screens, on newspapers, through bugging little texts automatically sent to anyone in possession of a mobile phone. No one was entirely sure what had made the government so alert to this all of a sudden, but once again, like all times in history, no one had questioned it. No one except for Melanie.

From the age of 5, she and all of the other children her age had been forced to participate in basic training; they claimed that to prepare for the upcoming war, but even a 5 year old wasn't stupid enough to just believe that. They were turning children into soldiers, mindless, emotionless machines to be used in the future for economical gain. But she's had no say in it, so like the others, she had mindlessly stepped into line, following every command she was given, every order that was issued.

That was, until she had turned 7, and Instructor Mitchell had placed that handgun into her hand. It had almost been like every other day. Melanie had turned up for 'school', placed her things into her locker, and headed out onto the field. There in the harsh sunlight, she and her entire class had done their daily workout, then gone to their respective classes. First came Maths, then English, then double Science. After that, it was training with Mitchell. She had been prepared for more basic martial arts. Maybe she'd get to try those sticks that she'd seen the older kids using. But instead, Mitchell had announced a surprise. Namely, the guns.

Melanie hadn't been sure how to react, at first. The first thing she said to him was 'Is this a joke?' most of the other kids had repeated her question, but Mitchell had grinned that stupid grin, and told them that no, this wasn't a joke. They were going to be using these guns. They were going to learn how to _kill_ with these guns. It was then that she'd felt so tremendously sick. Her thoughts had exploded into a violent array of incomprehensible worries and concerns. Then she had felt the instrument of death laying in the palm of her hand, barrel facing to the side and the handle resting on her thumb.

And she had said no.

Mitchell sent her home after that, worried that perhaps she was just flustered by the sudden confrontation. You didn't just give a child a gun and tell them to shoot. But he had done that anyway. Her parents had been supportive at least. They'd said that it would be fine, etcetera, etcetera. But it hadn't been that Melanie didn't want to shoot that gun. It was that she'd come to a revelation.

She'd locked herself in her room, and read up on every bit of magic that she could find. She knew that the new weapons Humans had invented were far superior to magical powers in raw strength. But magic was flexible, was it not? It could adapt to what the caster wanted it to do. What was a gun, when magic could conjure shields into thin air?

That night, when her parents had finally fallen asleep, Melanie had become the first human to cast magic in hundreds of years.

* * *

 **xXx**

"Happy birthday to me!" Melanie laughed to herself as she lay on the roof of her house, back pressing against cold hard shingles. "Here's to another year of sadness and mockery!" She tipped her head back just a little, raising the bottle of beer to her lips. She was nowhere near the legal drinking age – she had only just turned 9, after all – but tonight was the one night where she allowed herself to reign free. No one could tell her what to do on her birthday, not even her parents, who would be furious if they found out that Melanie had been drinking from their secret stash at the back of the fridge.

But then again, they were already furious at her anyways. They had been furious from the day that she'd used magic to defeat her partner in a training exercise. It hadn't been much, just a thin line of blue magic, but it had been enough to set them off. They had been mad, sure, but they hadn't officially kicked her out of the house until last month.

That hadn't really been a problem to her. Melanie still found it easy to sneak in and steal food from her old house, occasionally sleeping on the roof but mostly taking shelter in a small cave west of the town of Bellum. It certainly wasn't an unpleasant lifestyle, considering that no one actually knew that she had been kicked out of her house. Her parents, despite their obvious hatred towards her using magic, knew that suddenly withdrawing her from school would be suspicious. So as of yet, they still payed her school fees, even if they were spending thousands of dollars.

Melanie, of course, had taken full advantage of this situation. She still went to school, despite the frowns which greeted her in the hallways, or the disapproving looks that Mitchell gave her whenever he saw a streak of magic burst from her hand. She just did what she had to do to survive. After all, the school also gave free lunches, which she definitely wasn't going to turn down.

"Fuck you!" she screamed at the town, standing up and swaying groggily in the pale moonlight. "Screw you all! Goddamned gun lovers!" Of course, the school's arsenal didn't _only_ consist of guns. Blades of various lengths were also put into practice, and Melanie could recall one or two lessons involving whips, though she was pretty sure that it had only been Mitchell's sick perversion which had allowed such a lesson to make its way into the curriculum.

Melanie sighed, dropping down from the roof onto the gravel pathway in front of her house, smacking her cheek as she drained the contents of the bottle, then letting it slip out of her hand and clink against the pavement. Her parents could clean that up later; it wasn't her problem, not anymore. Right now, it was her birthday, and she was the goddamned queen of the universe.

"Oh, what to do, what to do?" she pondered out loud as she walked through the streets drunkenly, occasionally hiccupping between steps. "What to do, on the night of all nights? Perhaps I'll just take that walk? God known I need the exercise." Settling on this decision, Melanie tuned out the rest of the world, wandering absentmindedly through the winding streets of Bellum. She looked up for the first few times at the sounds of insects chirping or late night birds singing songs of fatigue and despair, but after that her interest wore thin, her mind latching onto anything which she hadn't yet seen that night.

Upon realising that she'd probably been seen by at least a few people, Melanie slunk into the darkened alleys, unconcerned about the possibility of strangers lurking in the dark. She was confident enough in her own abilities to defend herself. The alleys themselves, however, were a complete mess. Splattered bird droppings, year old posters, soggy with water and caked with grime, cigarette butts and broken beer bottles. The very lowest of humanity's standards.

Melanie snickered as she thought of what people would think of her hanging around places like this. Considering that only she and her parents knew about her current status, it would certainly raise some questions. Deciding that she had been here for long enough, she casually walked out the other end of the alley, a stupid grin on her face. That same grin died within seconds of seeing the situation unfolding on the opposite side of the street. She couldn't see very well, and her vision seemed to be twisting in circles, but she could make out the figures of a girl and two boys, noticeably larger than her.

It didn't take her very long to recognise them. The girl, Alice, was in her class, and one of the few people who tolerated Melanie's existence without constantly berating her, something which she was extremely grateful for. The boys, she knew went by the names Dylan and Darren, though she couldn't remember which was which. Was Dylan the tall one, or the large one? She hadn't bothered to get to know them well enough, but by reputation, neither were the kind of person you'd want to meet at the dead of night. That thought brought up questions of its own; what were the three doing out at this hour? Melanie really couldn't criticise them considering that she was doing the same thing, but she still found them extremely suspicious. Besides, they were whispering. If that didn't shout odd, then what did?

She drew nearer, standing on the road. It was a quite night; no cars passed, and so she remained in the relative darkness. Usually at this time, she was the only one up and about. But Bellum was a strange town, and its inhabitants were known for their unpredictability. Soon, as soon as the clocks hit 1:00 am, the first patrol was scheduled to start (though it usually began at least 5 minutes later), and all of them would be caught in the headlights of a speeding police car. She needed to resolve this before something like that happened.

"What's up, guys?" she said cheerily, startling all three of the people she was addressing. Alice's expression was grateful, while Dylan and Darren looked ready to pummel her. The tall one (she still couldn't recall who was who) snorted at her, tilting his head.

"What are you doing out at this time, Gomez? Go crawl back home." Melanie frowned, but otherwise ignored his attempt to insult her.

"It's my birthday. I'm gonna stay up as long as I like. But tell me, what are _you_ doing here? Do we all suddenly share the same birthday or something?" She feigned excitement, clapping her hands and plastering a fake grin onto her face. "Wait, do we share the same birthday?"

"Shut up," hissed the other one. "It's none of your business. Continue your midnight stroll somewhere else?" Melanie let out a fake sigh, slumping over in false despair.

"But it's _so boring_. It's all so quiet, and the patrol doesn't start for another 3 minutes…" He suddenly paled at the mention of a patrol, while Alice perked up.

"Patrol?" she said curiously. "In 3 minutes?"

"Something like that," Melanie muttered. "But it's always starting late."

"Darren, we should get out of here," the tall one whispered to the large one; well, at least she knew who was who.

"Why, though?" she questioned, spreading her arms out and grinning. "I thought the party was only just starting? Now, you want to tell me what you guys are doing here? Because may I remind you, you're unarmed." All three drew back as she traced her finger through the air, leaving a thin streak of blue magic, the boys visibly paling. "And, well, I never am." Alice let out a low whistle, clearly enjoying this spectacle, while Dylan and Darren were now nervous. Dylan spoke first, stepping forward.

"We're not unarmed." He flicked out a switchblade, flipping the switch so that a thin, sharp blade popped out of the shaft. Melanie eyed the small weapon, hardly concerned. She looked over at Darren, beckoning for him to take out his own weapon. His eyes flicked over to Darren uncomfortably, before reluctantly flicking his own blade out. "Leave, Gomez. This is your final warning."

"Not without answers," she growled. "Now, I'm fuckin' tipsy and hanging on the edge of getting real damn _pissed_. You don't want to test me, idiots."

"Don't bother," Alice told her wearily. "I just owe them money and haven't paid them. It's fine." Melanie snorted, holding up her hand and preparing to cast.

"What do you owe them for?" Alice frowned, but answered nevertheless.

"Uh, not kicking the crap out of me, apparently. They're not backing down." Melanie sighed, shaking her head at the two.

"Dammit, guys. You know I don't tolerate bullying." She placed both index fingers together, then drew them out, both leaving trails of blue magic. The trails began to thicken, entwining until they formed a light rod of magic. "Looks like I'm just going to have to explain why you're not meant to squeeze people." Darren slashed out with his switchblade, an attack which Melanie sidestepped with ease, before swinging the rod against his head. She heard a satisfying crack as the magic weapon made contact with his head, before changing her attention to Dylan. The boy snarled at her, lunging forward and feigning an attack to the left before kicking at her stomach. The blow fell short as Melanie stepped back, then slammed the rod into his exposed back. He groaned in pain as Melanie laughed, relishing his pained cries before delivering another blow to his side. He lurched forwards, then fell to the ground apparently defeated. She looked up at Alice, who was surprisingly calm despite the situation.

"You alright?" she asked, receiving a nod in response. "That's good." She looked down at Dylan, nudging him with her shoe. He didn't move. "I hope I didn't kill them."

"Mm," Alice hummed disinterestedly. "They'll be fine, I'm sure. Don't worry about it." Melanie looked doubtful, but shrugged.

"Alright. So–" She cut herself off as she was suddenly enveloped in a bright light, causing her to blink in surprise. She turned around, eyes widening as she realised that she source was the headlights of the first patrol car, the driving officer glaring at her furiously. "Oh, shit."

"Hold it!" he yelled, only to be hit in the face as Melanie threw her rod towards him. The weapon instantly changed into magical vapour after it struck, leaving no trace of its existence. "Darn it!" he pulled a gun from his holster, pointing it at Melanie. "You're under–" A streak of white magic burst from her outstretched hand, knocking the gun out of his hand. "GODDAMNIT!"

Melanie snarled at him, unable to stop the inevitable grab for the walkie-talkie. Her eyes darted to Alice, who gave her a firm nod. The message was clear; I'll buy you time. So go.

And she went. Ran. Faster and faster.

Through muddied pathways and cracked pavements she raced, brown hair flying behind her and the wind rushing in her ears. The only thing that tonight had achieved hadn't been worth it. Now the cops were after her, and they wouldn't even bother asking for an explanation; magic users were frowned down upon. There was nowhere to go. Because Bellum was her sanctuary no longer. As the sirens reached her ears, Melanie cursed, considering her options. The cave wouldn't be safe; they'd follow her there. Her parents wouldn't hide her. She needed a place where nowhere went the stuff of legends so revered that no one would _dare_ chase her. And as these thoughts went through her head, she looked to the dim horizon, and the dark lump rising from the ground in the distance. She realised that there was such a place, and it really wasn't far. That was what Ebott had always been, hadn't it? A legend.

Without hesitation, she set the legendary mountain as her waypoint, running towards it through the straight road leading directly to it. Cars would follow her easily, but none would dare to truly ascend the mountain with her…or at least, they _shouldn't_. Most people feared the mountain as much as they feared the Monsters which supposedly dwelt in its underground. Melanie had doubted the Monsters' existence before, but after discovering the power of magic, she supposed that anything was possible in this world. If there really were Monsters, would they slaughter her? Better slaughtered than imprisoned, she supposed. She didn't fancy either idea, but at least when you were dead you didn't know about it.

Soon the sirens grew louder and louder, until the cars were almost right behind her. Melanie had always been a fast runner, but there was no way that she could outrun speeding cars. She could already see the red and blue flashing onto the road in front of her. Red and blue…

She spun around for just a second, extending both hands towards the ground in behind her. A blue spike shot up from the ground, piercing the tires of the cars pursuing her. A loud hiss of air escaped from the tires as the leading car skidded to the left, rolling over and coming to a halt. The second car smashed loudly into the first, shattered shards of glass flying through the air as is too began to slow down. Melanie breathed a sigh of relief, allowing the spike to retreat back into the ground. It wasn't as if she'd taken out the entire force following her though; there was still a sizeable amount of cars in pursuit, sounding sirens and flashing coloured lights. If she wanted make it to Ebott, then she'd need to get rid of them.

There wasn't much she could do to stop their assault without completely draining herself. First she began to fire streaks of blue magic at the cars, but they didn't do much apart from crack their windscreens. Soon it was apparent that they would catch up soon if she kept on repeating this. They were still gaining on her. Left with no other choice, she lifted up both hands, spreading them as wide as she could and pushing forward. A thin blue rectangle began to expand behind her, rapidly spreading out before the cars. Before the vehicles could stop, they were slamming into the massive barrier, some flipping over as car alarms sounded and sirens died.

Melanie stopped running, looking back with an expression of horror on her face. She had done that? Had she really? Her knees trembled as her eyes searched through the wreckage for any sign of life, but as the vehicles lay unmoving and no people came into sight, she dropped to the ground in despair, grazing her legs in the process. She hissed in pain, drawing her legs in and lightly tapping the wound with her finger, then withdrawing. She shuffled backwards, hands scraping against dry blades of grass. Wait, grass…?

Melanie spun her head around, gasping at the sight. Not once had she ever seen Ebott up close before. The mountain, even with half its vegetation dried up and withered, was still as majestic as the stories had said. Standing at an incredible height, the peak reached up to the sky, beyond even the clouds. She tilted her head back, gaping at the sight as suddenly behind her, she heard a metallic scraping. She turned around, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw a single figure, hunched over with pain, walking towards her while scowling. At least she hadn't killed everyone in that crash…

Something panged in her chest. A revelation, of sorts. If she allowed these people to survive, then they'd never stop following her. She would always be on the run. This man, whoever he was, was no different. Closing her eyes in regret, she raised her arm and fired a single bolt of orange magic. The man had definitely seen it coming; he yelped in alarm, quickly diving out of the way. But he hadn't been what she'd been aiming for; Melanie's target was the pile of immobile scrap metal lying around on the road. Anyone who actually took the time to read up on magic would know that there were three common forms of magic, which expanded into their own various subcategories; white, blue and orange. White was a completely solid attack, blue extremely effective only against things which were moving. Orange however, only affected things which were motionless. And when it _did_ manage to hit something, it was _always_ extremely destructive.

The pile of heaped cars exploded, a massive fireball bursting from its centre as the flames enveloped the entirety of the crash site, burning everything within its radius. Melanie sighed as she stared at the leaping flames, guilt overtaking her. Why didn't she feel bad? She had just killed a whole bunch of police officers, who were just doing their jobs. Who was she, to do such things and feel hardly any regret? She shook her head, rising shakily to her feet and stumbling up the mountain. She still needed to get away. Get away, clear her head, figure out her next move–

Melanie shrieked, falling forwards as a bullet ripped through her leg, a gaping hole teared into her flesh. She fell forwards, gasping for breath as she turned around to see the man from earlier, his left arm reduced to nothing but a bleeding stump and his right pointing a bloodstained handgun at her head. She'd missed. That explosion hadn't killed him, just injured him terribly. He wore a snarl on his face as he staggered forwards, index finger twitching against the trigger.

"Can't run now, bitch," he growled at her. "I was supposed to bring you back alive. But after that spectacle you just pulled off, I think that killing you would be a better choice." He winced and clutched his arm, but continued his march, gaining easily on Melanie as she limped on her only uninjured leg, gasping in pain. She turned around, firing a stream of white magic at his chest. However, the attack was weak and lacklustre, barely a mist, only causing him to stagger backwards before he regained his footing. He grunted, aiming the gun at her head once more and squeezing the trigger. Melanie made a half-hearted attempt to dodge, the bullet slicing open her cheek. But at this point, she had no more energy to spare for crying out. Her vision blurry, Melanie forced herself to use her injured leg to gain as much ground as possible. Though she couldn't see clearly, there was definitely what appeared to be a cave in front of her. Jagged stones, a darkened entrance; yeah, it seemed like a cave, alright.

"Get…" Another bullet raced past her, mere inches to the right from blowing her brains out. "Get back here, you bitch…" Another shot, this time landing in the dirt right next to her foot. Melanie stumbled briefly, stealing a glance at the new hole in the dirt before continuing. She grasped the cold stone wall of the cave, leaning against it to rest for just a moment and pressing her cheek to the icy stone. Another bullet jolted her back to reality, causing her to grunt and let go of the wall, staggering forwards as her left leg seemed to lose all its strength. She peered into the darkness, eyes widening as she came across what appeared to be an enormous, gaping hole.

It was almost perfectly circular in shape, the only irregularities being small chips in the side. As she peered over the edge, all she could see was darkness. A thick, endless darkness, a void with no end. No one had ever found the entrance to the underground in years; how could this truly be it? She took a step back, looking for another place to go; and then she heard the shot. And she felt it. The bullet hit her square in the back, sending her stumbling forward, eyes widened as her nerves registered the pain. And then she was falling. Down, down, into the endless darkness, until her vision was only pitch black, and a small pinprick of light directly above her. As her eyes closed while she fell, Melanie saw the officer's face, watching her all the way until she could no longer be seen. She hit the floor, and then she saw nothing.

* * *

 **xXx**

"I know, Tori. You said that already. No, I _won't_. I _promise_ , okay? Alright, I'll talk to you later. I think she's waking up." As Melanie began to stir, she could hear someone talking, apparently on a phone line with someone else. Their voice was low, almost equivalent to a mechanical droning, and only differentiable by the slight tones, words and pitches which could be made out by the sound. She opened her eyes to be greeted by a plain white ceiling, as she heard the distinctive click signifying the end of a call. She turned her head slightly to the left, cringing at the sudden snap in her neck. There was a figure standing next to her bed, dressed in a blue hoodie which had suffered years of wear and tear, small patches of faded colour on the shoulders. The hood was pulled over their face, obscuring it with dark shadows. Suddenly, a hand emerged from the pocket of the hoodie, and Melanie jolted upon realising that it was completely comprised of bone. No skin, flesh or blood was enveloping the hand as it rose up, pulling back the hood to reveal a grinning skull with tiny pinpricks of light in the sockets as its eyes. Suddenly, the skeleton winked at her, clearly enjoying her moment of shock.

"Hey there, kiddo." Melanie screamed. The skeleton didn't even blink, simply staring back with a peaceful expression. "Sorry for startling you. Although, I'd say that's good payback considering how much you startled me, falling through the Barrier like that." Melanie blinked in confusion, not understanding what he'd said.

"Barrier?" She had a feeling that if the skull was capable of showing anymore expression, then he would have been scowling.

"Yes, the Barrier. The thing that seals the Monsters underground. The only reason why the Human and Monster races aren't tearing each other apart. _That_ thing." Melanie shook her head, as her eyes adjusted to the harsh light.

"Sorry. We don't have a name for it. Wait a second…" Her eyes snapped open as she came to a realisation. "Wait. Monster. Shit. You're a Monster."

"What else would I be?" the skeleton asked, clearly annoyed at her lack of knowledge. "Yeah, I'm a Monster. So is everyone else down here in the underground. That is, everyone except you." Melanie stared at him for a moment, as everything clicked into place. She'd attacked those boys. She ran to Ebott. She'd found the entrance, and that officer had shot her. And then she had fallen…

"Oh, God," she muttered. "I'm underground." The skeleton let out a sound which sounded suspiciously like a snicker, before answering her.

"Yes," he agreed. "You're underground. Several thousand feet. If that bed of flowers hadn't been there to break your fall, you surely would have been killed by the fall. Hell, you look like you were half dead before you even fell. What happened up there, kiddo?" Melanie stared blankly, collecting her thoughts.

"I…I tried to defend someone, but it all went wrong. They chased me, and then they shot me…I ran here because I had nowhere else to go. If I hadn't gone into that cave, I would have died." She looked into his eye sockets, at the tiny pinpricks of light. "I owe you my life."

"Yeah." Any lightheartedness which had been present in his tone instantly vanished, leaving only a passive hostility. "And you better damn well remember it. If I hadn't found you, the Froggits would have made quick work of you." Melanie frowned, frustrated at having little to no knowledge of this new world. The skeleton, clearly noticing her confusion, sighed and rubbed his head. "Another type of Monster. Don't ask; you'll meet them soon enough." She attempted to nod, but only received a bolt of paint through her spine in response. "Don't try and move. Your back was very badly injured by something, probably a bullet. Moving will just make it worse. Melanie sighed, but obeyed his words.

"Why did you help me?" she asked hesitantly. "I…I thought that you would hate Humanity after the war."

"Oh, I most certainly do," he admitted. "But as a friend of the Queen, I've kind of gotta keep a promise. And damn, do it hate it. Because if I hadn't agreed to it…" Suddenly both lights in his eyes completely died, leaving his eye sockets empty. "If I hadn't agreed, you'd be dead where you stand. Or uh, where you lie down." Melanie attempted to move, recoiling as another bolt of pain shot through her body. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he advised. "That bullet tore right through your spinal cord. You won't be walking any time soon."

"You mean forever?" she groaned, shifting a little into a more comfortable position. "If what you say is true, the damage is irreversible."

"You mean irreversible up _there_ ," he made a sound akin to a snort, motioning upwards with his head. "Here, we use healing magic. Much more effective than that stupid _medicine_ you Humans use. Pf, medicine." Melanie frowned, craning her neck a little.

"Healing magic?"

"Yeah. Green magic. What, they don't teach you that at school?" She winced, shaking her head slowly.

"They don't teach us anything about magic at school," she admitted. "They made us use weapons. Because they said…they said there'd be another war." The skeleton tilted his head, shaking it with an accompanying sigh.

"Trying to turn the young ones against us, huh? Slimy bastards." Melanie was about to protest that Humanity wasn't only comprised of slimy bastards, or whatever other string of unpleasant insults were on the tip of his tongue, but instead she found herself saying, "I never got your name." He stared at her, apparently surprised at her question, but quickly righted himself.

"The name's Sans, kid. Sans the skeleton." Melanie snickered, then winced at the pang in her chest.

"Argh. Um, I'm Melanie. Melanie Gomez." Sans winked at her.

"Nice to meet you, kiddo. If you need me, just holler real loud. I'm gonna go take a quick snooze."

"Okay. So–" Melanie blanched upon realising that Sans had literally began snoring while standing in front of her, head drooped down and eyelids closed – hell, how did he even _have_ eyelids? Then again, he was a Monster. Human skeletons were probably different from _skeletons_. But she was more or less just concerned about whether he would wake up easily. Besides, his snoring was making it difficult to clear her head.

"Hey!" she yelled, causing the skeleton to jitter a little before his eyelids snapped open. However, only his left eye was illuminated, and instead of the usual white dot it was a burning blue flame, hovering in his eye socket.

"What is it?" he asked. "Something wrong?"

"I can't sleep when you're snoring," she explained. "Can you, uh, go somewhere else?" Sans grumbled, but moved himself nevertheless, closing the door behind him and shutting off the light. Melanie sighed, thinking about the injury in her back. Sans had said that it would be possible to heal her, but the idea had seemed farfetched, even for healing magic. How did one replace pulverised vertebrae, irreplaceable tissue? How did you reverse paralysis?

 _Magic_ , said the voice in the back of her head. _Magic solves everything_. But just as soon as that thought entered her mind, it began to drift to other places; the Monsters predominantly used magic. Perhaps they could help her powers grow? She shook her head, sighing. The Monsters, whether she liked it or not, probably all hated Humans. Then again, what was it that Sans had said? He'd made a promise to someone, the Queen apparently, to not kill her. Then did that mean she didn't hate her…? God, everything was so confusing. She didn't know _anything_ about the underground, but was already drawing up rules and trying to figure everything out. The little pieces of information which Sans had given her probably wouldn't get her _anywhere_.

But here, no one would hate her for her magic, right? Sans had clearly expected her to at least know of healing magic, something which she had never even heard of before. She raised her left arm, wincing a little at the strain on her muscles, but still persisting. She clicked her fingers, a small blue flame flickering to life in the palm of her hand. Up on the surface, she'd had to balance everything; her school, finding shelter, food and water. But now, as she lay injured and paralysed on this bed in the underground, she had time. And she would make use of it.

* * *

 **xXx**

The next few days were a blur. Whenever Sans was asleep, Melanie poured all her focus into her magic, manipulating the white, blue or orange energy into different shapes and forms. She found that she was most powerful when it came to blue magic; she had always favoured it above all other types anyway, especially in a heated close combat battle. It had been extremely useful against her unsuspecting fellow students, who expected staffs and knives, only to receive a blue rod cracking into their face. Sans never questioned the strange sounds which came for her room, only coming in to give her food at regular intervals and trace lines of green magic across her spine. She could feel the cooling, relaxing sensation which came with the touch; it didn't take long for her mind to change about the possibility of healing her back. He gave her a few suspicious glances whenever he came in, as her hand was almost always raised and poised to cast. It was only a week after she'd first arrived when they finally had another full length conversation.

"You should be able to get out of that bed now." Melanie blinked in surprise, shifting in her bed to face him. His expression was completely serious as he gazed at her exposed back. "It's about time you tried."

"Are you sure?" she asked, clearly doubtful. "Even with magic, wouldn't it take months to heal my spine?" Sans made another snorting sound, shaking his head.

"I wasn't expecting you to start walking around. I meant a wheelchair, so that you can actually eat at the goddamned table."

"Oh," Melanie muttered in surprise. "I, uh…thanks?" Sans shrugged, pulling a wheel chair out from behind him and propping it in front of him. "Do I just…?"

"Get. The fuck. In."

"Okay." Without much protest, Sans carried Melanie out of the bed, plopping her into the wheelchair and briskly pushing her out of the room. She frowned, shifting forward a little and crossing her arms over her chest. "How big is this house?" she asked as they turned yet another corner.

"Bigger than most," was the only answer she got. The halls seemed identical, plain white walls and a matching ceiling, brown wooden floorboards with the occasional coloured carpet. No pictures were hung from the wall, no decorations populated the house at all. Sans either didn't have time to decorate, or was far too lazy to bother picking out furniture. The second possibility seemed far more likely than the first, considering how easy it was for the skeleton to fall asleep.

A few twists and turns later, Sans pulled into a large dining room, a simple wooden table with six chairs in place. A merry fire was crackling on the stove, which by his expression, he'd forgotten to turn off. The skeleton cursed, walking over to the stove and turning the fire off, before pulling a chair to the side and wheeling Melanie to the table. She opened her mouth to thank him, but before she could he had dumped a plate of warm spaghetti with a dollop of tomato sauce on top, accompanied by a sprinkle of parmesan. She raised an eyelid upon seeing the meal, looking across the table to see Sans with a near identical plate of food. He winked at her, his permanent grin seeming to widen just a bit.

"I'm not so lazy that I don't know how to cook," he said. "Just be grateful that I'm not as bad at cooking spaghetti as my brother. The last time I came round to his house, he managed to cook a batch which stuck to the plate." Melanie's eyes widened in interest as she picked up the fork and spoon lying at her place at the table.

"You have a brother?" she asked curiously. "You never told me about him."

"Of course I didn't," he grumbled while picking up his own cutlery. "This is only our second conversation. All we did the first time was establish that you're underground, and exchange pleasantries."

"And you basically threatened me," Melanie added through a mouth half filled with warm spaghetti. Sans made another one of his snorting noises, but otherwise didn't react to her statement. Melanie was briefly disappointed, but not for very long. The food was easily the best meal she'd had for months. It wasn't easy to find good food when you were essentially homeless. She had little to no cooking experience, the only meals she'd ever fixed for herself being cereal or sandwiches. But Sans, despite the way he'd talked about the food, clearly knew what he was doing. She wondered whether what he'd told her about his brother was true.

"Do you Humans practice magic often?" he asked her suddenly, not looking up from his food. Melanie almost spat the food out of her mouth, shocked. Upon seeing her expression, Sans rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "Damn. You think I don't know what you do at night?" He clicked his fingers, a blue ember sparking to life in the palm of his hand. "Yeah. I know the sounds, kiddo. You practice that magic of yours every spare second you get. You're real damn attached to it." She held her breath as he leaned forward a little, the chair creaking from the shifting weight of his body. "So, you want to answer my question?" She stared blankly at him for a moment, before averting her eyes to her plate.

"No," she muttered, her voice barely more than a whisper. "On the surface, I'm pretty sure that I was the only one who used it. Most people thought it was some kind of curse. In school, during fighting lessons I was at the top of my class, and everyone hated me for it." She clenched her hand into her fist, accidentally digging her flesh into the metal of her fork. "My parents kicked me out of the house because of the shame. They said I was _defective_. I didn't find out what that meant until I snuck back in and stole myself a goddamned dictionary." She looked up at Sans, who stared at her with a surprisingly high level of attention. She was surprised he hadn't started snoozing again. "When I, uh, ran to Ebott, it was because I was defending a classmate of mine. I used magic to knock them out, but the police didn't see it that way. So I ran, and they followed me, all the way up the mountain to the cave. They'd already shot me twice by then. I couldn't think straight, my vision was getting darker by the second…I panicked. I got to the entrance, and I got shot in the back. And then I fell. So, uh, no. Humans don't really practice magic." Sans suddenly snickered, prompting Melanie to frown.

"You could have just ended it at no," he explained. "Instead, you give me the story of your life." Melanie sighed, shaking her head.

"Well, I figured that I should probably tell you now, instead of me telling you the _next_ time we have a conversation." Sans raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment further. He just dug into his spaghetti, clearly not looking for further conversation. Melanie appreciated the gesture, quietly doing the same. She picked up her fork again, but suddenly Sans reached across the table, grabbing her arm and holding it in place. She frowned at him, pulling at his grip.

"What are you–"

"Shut up," he hissed quietly. "Someone's outside." Melanie froze, her eyes going to the square windows which illuminated the room with the dim glow of underground plants. Sans motioned for her to stay where she was, which Melanie answered to by rolling her eyes. It wasn't as if she could move on her own, anyway. She had no clue how to operate this wheelchair – for some reason, the wheels had been covered along the top, likely because Sans didn't trust her to move around on her own. Damn, he was smart.

"-shouldn't have agreed to this," she heard someone say outside. "This isn't worth it, I'm telling you. We should just head back home." Another person snorted, clearly pissed off.

"You're chickening out on me? Come on man, how hard can it be? It's just _one_ little girl. We just need to confirm that she's dead, and we head home." Melanie's eyes widened as the Humans came into view; both were wearing metal armour, with a helmet with two tips extending out the sides. At that moment, Sans chose to snicker, looking back at Melanie.

"Looks like a Loox." When she stared at him blankly, he scowled, shaking his head. "Never mind. Just another monster you haven't seen."

"Hey did you hear something?" Sans cursed, looking at the door. He motioned towards Melanie, raising a finger to his mouth. She nodded, eyeing the men through the window. Their heads were turned towards her. "It's the–" He never got to finish his sentence. Before Melanie could comprehend what was happening, one of the men was impaled in the stomach by a plain white bone, keeling over in shock. His partner looked down at him, with an equal amount of surprise. "What the–" He was answered by Sans suddenly appearing in front of them, hand outstretched. The skeleton grinned, left eye glowing in a blue flame.

"Hey there," he greeted. "Sorry, did I surprise you?" _Yes,_ Melanie wanted to say so badly. _And you scared the crap out of me. DO IT AGAIN._

"You son of a bitch!" the man yelled as his friend fell backwards, body completely limp. "You killed him!" Sans shrugged, tilting to the side a little.

"Eh. You _did_ kind of come into the underground. And you're armed," he said, pointing at the man's gun still in its holster. "And I heard what you said. Now if you've a _bone_ to pick with me–" Melanie snickered, "-then hell, pick it. But you aren't laying a hand on the kid. She's under _my_ protection, _numskull_." The man yelled out, enraged. He pulled his gun on Sans, firing a bullet but horribly missing as the skeleton easily dodged to the side, raising both arms. A barrage of bones appeared in front of him, which flew at top speed towards the man. He rolled out of the way, firing once more. Sans jumped _over_ the bullet, clicking his fingers. A large, abnormal skull snapped into life behind the man, growling aggressively. Sans grinned as the man turned around, raising his gun to shoot at the beast. The skeleton shrugged, clicking his fingers once more. The skull opened its jaw, firing a blinding white beam at the man, completely enveloping him until Melanie had to shield her eyes. When she finally lowered her arm from her face, the man was nothing but dust. Sans turned back to her, swiftly moving over and sitting in his chair again.

"Sorry about that. Shall we get back to dinner?" Melanie just stared at him, mouth gaping.

"That was incredible." Sans rolled his eyes, looking to the left.

"So I've been told before," he muttered. "Everybody assumes that I can't fight because I'm lazy. The truth is, I just do it so much when no one's looking that it's real damn tiring to go about the rest of my day."

"I want you to teach me," Melanie suddenly blurted out. Sans looked at her, a suspicious expression on his face.

"What are you–"

"I'm serious," she insisted. "I never had anyone on the surface willing to teach me, because most Humans hate magic. But what you just did…that was incredible. Please, I just…I need this." Sans sighed, but nodded once, looking her in the eyes.

"Well, if it'll give you something to do," he said. "But only once I've completely fixed that back of yours." Melanie nodded, eager that he had actually agreed to her.

"Don't think that I'm doing this because I like you, kid. That promise is the only reason why–"

"Why I'm not dead where I stand," she finished. "I know. And I understand. But uh, we have a deal?" Sans grunted, nodding again.

"Yeah, we've got a deal. Now finish your spaghetti, or before you know it it'll be stuck to the plate."


	2. Six SOULs

**I'm back! Finally!**

 **Okay I'm going to hardcore rush everything now. Bye.**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Six SOULs**

Five weeks later, when her back had finally been fully healed, Sans led Melanie outside to a long hallway with a floor of red leaves. He had given Melanie one of his spare hoodies since her shirt was rent in the back and down the left side, but had blatantly muttered that he only had one pair of pants, and thus she was still wearing the same torn jeans.

"Alright, we're here," he announced. "Now, let me remind you that I'm only doing this because–"

"You've told me a thousand times," Melanie interrupted, rolling her eyes. "You hate me and you want me occupied with something so you can sleep."

"Something like that," the skeleton agreed. The two stared at each other for a while, unblinking. Sans' left eye twitched. "This is the part where you tell me what you want to learn," he explained. Melanie blinked, then nodded.

"Oh. Okay. Uh…" She thought back to five weeks ago, when she had seen Sans fighting those men, slaughtering them. The first had been impaled through the stomach by a common yet powerful white magic projectile, while the other…Sans had done something even worse. All it had taken was a snap of his fingers, and that demonic skull was hovering right behind the man, materialising from thin air. And then it had fired that blazing white beam, until all that was left were charred smoke and ash. "You know that skull thing you summoned?" she asked him. "When you uh, clicked your fingers and then it showed up and shot this really epic laser–"

"Of course you want me to teach you the Gaster Blaster," Sans grumbled. "I should have seen this coming. And while I _will_ do it, it'll take a skele- _ton_ of effort on your part, kiddo." Melanie almost reconsidered her choice upon seeing the expression on Sans' face. He wasn't kidding around; in fact, he was dead serious. That pun had been a futile attempt to lighten the mood on both ends, but neither Human nor Monster was laughing. Melanie broke of the staring contest by nodding once.

"I understand." Sans snorted, shaking his head as he began to walk to the other side of the hallway.

"Screw that, kid. You won't understand – not until you feel it for yourself." Melanie was confused, but followed him as he began to mutter under his breath. For a moment, she wondered what his brother was like; Sans hadn't talked much about him, the only information she had managed to glean being that he was a terrible cook, and desperately wanted to join the Royal Guard. He sounded pretty easy going, compared to Sans and his kill-or-be-killed attitude.

The skeleton stopped at the end of the room, turning around to face Melanie. He scowled at her, before facing the other end of the hallway.

"Okay. Show me the strongest, heaviest white magic attack that you've got up your sleeve," he instructed. Melanie blinked, frowning.

"What does this have to do with–"

"Do what you're told," he interrupted, both eyes suddenly blacking out. "Or your back gets broken again. And this time, I'm not gonna heal it." Melanie glared at him, but sighed and did as she was told. She focused on the doorway at the opposite side of the room, glowering at the dark space. She stretched out her hand, channelling every bit of energy in her body. She bit her lip as pure white magic burst from her fingertips, the small streak turning into a blossoming flame which slowly burned its way through the air to the other end of the hallway. Melanie gasped as she felt her arm droop downwards, exhausted from the effort of casting. Almost instantly the flame flickered out, as she slumped to her knees, sweat running down her forehead. Sans looked mildly impressed as he extended an arm and helped her up.

"Not bad," he admitted as she regained her balance. "But there's two things which you majorly messed up." Melanie groaned as she stumbled a little, letting go of Sans' hand.

"Is this going to be a lecture?" she questioned distastefully. "Because if it is, make it a short one."

"You're the one who extended its length," Sans grumbled. "But yeah, lecture time. Major stuff up number one, the attack took too long to reach the other side of the hallway. Number two…well, look at you. I don't really have to say much else." Melanie snorted, turning to face him. "Your attacks take up too much energy; that's why your fire was ineffective. If you compress that power, conserve your energy…" he snapped his fingers, and a monstrous skull materialised in the air behind him, firing a blinding white laser at the wall before vanishing instantly. "…you can achieve things you may have thought to be impossible." Melanie stared at the new darkened splotch on the wall, mouth hanging open.

"So, uh…" She tucked her hair behind her ear, expression thoughtful. "I just need to find a way to conserve my energy?"

"Something like that," Sans replied nonchalantly, sitting down on the floor cross-legged before leaning back against the wall. "Now, don't be too loud." Melanie frowned, confused at first, but her eyes widened as she realised what he was about to do.

"Don't you dare–"

"Zzz…" Sans was already snoring. She thumped her fist against the wall, then cried out as she recoiled, clutching it tightly.

"Oh, man," she muttered as she looked at the doorway again. "This is gonna be tough."

 **xXx**

Three weeks later, the only progress that Melanie had made was that she no longer dropped to the ground in exhaustion after unleashing her powerful white magic attack. Sans hadn't been surprised at all, waving her off and putting it up to a lack of motive. When he had suggested that she had wanted to scream, but had instead _calmly_ talked with him about how she was completely motivated. Then he'd snorted and zipped off to bed. The joy of living with a sarcastic skeleton…

As the days kept going by, she found herself becoming more and more frustrated at herself. Sometimes she screamed when she released her energy, anger overtaking every instinct. It was the fifth time she'd screamed when Sans had finally emerged from his room, suddenly appearing next to her and grabbing her hand.

"Don't," he'd whispered. "If you get mad, you can't control your power. You have to stay calm." Melanie had tried giving his advice a try; surprisingly, she had found herself not exerting as much energy as usual. She'd turned around the thank him, but once again, the lazy skeleton had retreated back to his room.

Right now, she was alone in the hallway, relentlessly battering the other wall with her white magic, peppering the bricks with countless holes. Every day, the wall seemed to be unscathed, as if someone had repaired it. At first she had suspected Sans, but the skeleton was always sleeping. She'd then put it up to the other Monsters dwelling in the area (Sans referred to them as the Ruins), though she had never encountered any of them. Sans had mentioned them often, often poking fun at something called a Loox, though the only thing she'd managed to gather about it was that it had two pointed horns and a single enormous eye.

Melanie let out a roar of frustration as she unleashed yet another powerful attack. The time it took for the fire to burn its way through the air had somewhat decreased, but she was hardly satisfied with her progress. It was pathetic, really; it had never taken her this long to master a new technique. Then again, no technique she'd ever attempted had been as complex as the Gaster Blaster. Making physical weapons out of magic had only been compressing the energy into a compact shape. Firing it in bullets had taken a little more effort, but no less than a day or two. And yet here she was, struggling to hit a wall at a decent speed without dropping to the ground. There had to be another way to do this.

She sat down, crossing her legs as she remembered the two times that Sans had shown her the technique first hand. An enormous, monstrous skull, a blinding white laser, but then nothing. The skull disappeared as soon as it had exerted its power. Just the way that Melanie had been exhausted each time she had released her fire…

Suddenly, an idea came to mind. She released a wave of magic, but instead of turning it into fire, she instead grouped it together, compressing it into a large, recognisable shape; the Gaster Blaster. She forced the skull to crack open, its jaw widening as the empty sockets suddenly began to glow. And then she let go. Instantly, all of the energy she had put into the form of the Gaster Blaster burst from the skull as it instantly vaporised, leaving nothing but a blinding laser which scorched the other side of the room. After a moment the laser died, the only sign of it ever existing being the new, darker mark in the wall. Melanie stared. And then she smiled.

 **xXx**

Sans awoke to the sounds of Melanie whooping. The world seemed to spin as his empty eyes focused on the ceiling light of his room, his body jolting as he became aware of himself falling asleep.

 _Damn, I do that easily._

He grunted, getting out of bed as Melanie cries of joy continued to reach his non-existent ears…what was she so worked up about anyway? For the past three weeks she'd been nothing but an emotional wreck, screaming at the wall and throwing attack after attack at the rigid bricks. If Sans hadn't asked the local Migosps to repair the wall every night while she was asleep, she would have burnt a gaping hole through their entire house. He sighed, zipping down to the room where he knew she was practicing – and almost ran into an enormous laser. He stared at it in shock as it died, fading into nothingness before another scorched the spot behind him.

"Oh, hey Sans!" Melanie yelled at him cheerfully from the other side of the room. She motioned to the left, and another skull came to life, firing a laser at the wall before disappearing. Sans blinked at her, refusing to believe what he was seeing. But he was unable to deny it as she raised her hands, summoning an entire row of the monstrous skulls and forcing him to dodge out of the way of the oncoming barrage. She'd mastered the Gaster Blaster, in no less than a few weeks. Sans himself had taken months to even summon the skull; the laser had taken another two. But Melanie had apparently figured out how to summon both the skull and fire the laser in the space of the last few hours. She was a genius.

"How the hell are you doing this?" he yelled at her over the din. She cupped her hand to her ear, leaning forward.

"What?"

"I asked how the hell you're doing this?" he repeated in uttermost confusion. "Yesterday you were swearing every time your fire took less than a second o reach the wall, and now you have Gaster Blasters at your disposal?"

"Oh, yeah, that," she said, grinning widely. "I just thought about how on the surface we were trained in close ranged combat, so instead of using a staff like the other kids, I used a rod of blue magic, like this." She placed her index fingers together, drawing them out until the blue magic trailing from them had strengthened into a powerful blue rod. "Whenever I wanted to get rid of it, it sorted exploded with energy. So I figured, why don't I just propel the energy given off when I let go of the construct? Pretty clever, huh?"

"Yeah," Sans muttered, still in disbelief. "That's pretty fucking clever, for a numskull like you." Melanie's grin quickly changed into a snarl, as she summoned a row of Gaster Blasters, each animalistic skull pointed in his direction. He stumbled back for a moment, suddenly very aware that at this level of power, it was possible for her to kill him. "Woah, woah," he said, raising his arms. "I only have–" The Gaster Blaster fired. He only had a minute to shortcut out of the room before quickly warping back in after the lasers had died. "Seriously?" he yelled at her. "Do you know that I've only got _1 HP_?"

"The hell is HP?" she asked unconcernedly. "That's some video game crap that developers made up to represent physical durability."

"It's a real thing," he growled at her. "HP is short for HoPe. Read any book down here and you'll find that definition."

"That takes longer to say," Melanie muttered, clearly not fazed by the fact that if he hadn't moved, Sans could very well be dead. "Anything else you want to tell me?" Sans scowled, but said nothing more as she walked over to him, hands in the pockets of her hoodie. "So, anything else? Any _flaws_?" The skeleton shrugged, looking at the now destroyed wall. Some of the bricks were still smoking.

"Definitely not in your Gaster Blasters, that's for sure. However…" He flicked a white bone at her, which embedded itself into her knee. She cried out as she fell backwards, face scrunched up in pain. "Yup," he muttered. "You can't dodge for shit."

 **xXx**

"So tell me, how is the Human?" Sans frowned as he looked through the doorway into the dining room. Melanie was currently seated at the table, ravenously digging into her plate of spaghetti. She still had the childish gleam of excitement in her eyes as she slurped up her food, accidentally getting the sauce onto her face.

"Melanie's fine, Tori," he said as he observed her. "Fully recovered. Exactly like I've been telling you for the past three weeks. Although, she'd finally made a breakthrough in her magic. She's been using me for target practice for half the day."

"So, you have become attached to her?" Sans scoffed at the suggestion, shaking his head even though she wasn't there to see him.

"Shut up, Toriel Dreemurr. I haven't been attached to anybody in years, and you know it."

"Yet you called her by her name," Toriel pointed out from the other end of the line. "Which could mean one of two things–"

"Alright, calm down," Sans said hurriedly as Melanie turned to look at him in confusion. He waved her off, pointing at her plate. "Eat your food!"

"Yours is getting cold," she said, pointing at his plate. "I'm just saying."

"Whatever." As soon as she turned away, Sans went back to the conversation. "I'm tolerating her, that's for sure. But don't you dare start thinking that–"

"Sans," Toriel said seriously. "I have known you for a very long time, have I not? And for all this time, there have been two things that anyone can always rely on you for. First, you always keep your promises. And second, you have _always_ despised Humans, since the first days of the war. Yet now you tell me that you are tolerating one, even if _I_ was the one who asked you to protect them?" Sans sighed, slumping back against the wall. Whether he liked it or not, Toriel was correct – to a certain extent. Melanie might not be his favourite person in the world, but her arrival had changed his overall view of Humans as a species. After the war, whenever he heard that word, all he could think of were darkened images of the creatures wallowing in the blood and dust of Monsters and Humans alike, holding their bloodstained weapons over their heads in triumph as the seven magicians had cast the Barrier over the underground, seemingly trapping them there forever.

But Melanie was the opposite of all that. She had fallen through the Barrier after her own kind had turned on her, peppering her body with deadly bullets until she was no longer capable of walking. She had shown no hatred towards Sans despite the fact that he was a Monster, and had stated several times how much better the underground was from the surface. She'd had nowhere to go, and for some strange, unknown reason, she saw this place as her new home. For a while Sans hadn't understood why, but soon the reason had become apparent; Melanie was simply an exceptional Human being. She cared more about her morality than hundred year old feuds. She'd strayed away from the distasteful weapons of war the Humans had tried to force her to wield, and instead turned to magic, a field which could be used for more than just death and violence. She'd found another path, differed from the rest of her group. And now she saw herself not just as a Human who had once lived on the surface, but as a Human who had been reborn the day she had fallen through.

"Fine," Sans admitted after a period of silence. "Melanie is…I don't know how to explain it, to be honest. She's incredible. It took me months to fire my first Gaster Blaster, and she's managed to pull it off in a couple of weeks. The kid's got backbone, I'll give her that. And that's not all, Tori. She doesn't hate _us_. She sees Monsters as _better_ than humans, even though she's met none but me."

"Then you must have given her a good first impression," the queen snickered playfully as Sans sighed.

"You don't understand, Tori. From the moment she fell down, she's shown nothing but indifference to her own kind. But the moment she realised that I was a Monster…well sure, she panicked – anybody would have done that. But she didn't panic because I'm a Monster. It was because she realised that it had all really happened. The Humans had really betrayed her. And that was what hurt the most. Hell, only a week after that, I had to kill those two Humans who came after her." The skeleton paused, a new thought crossing his mind. "You _did_ get my package in the mail, right?"

"Yes, of course we did," Toriel assured him. "And Asgore has already placed the two you sent next to the Barrier. I haven't actually told him about the Human yet, though the time may come very soon. You know, because we–"

"Because we have five," Sans interrupted, "and we only need two more. I know, but listen, Tori – you can't tell Asgore. Not yet. I need to be the one to tell him, when the time is right. I can't have him lashing out at you again." Toriel went silent, but he could almost hear the little gears in her brain ticking before she let out a resigned sigh.

"Very well. I will leave you to it, Sans." As she prepared to hang up, Sans suddenly spoke up.

"Wait a second, Tori." The woman stopped herself as the skeleton stopped her. "Melanie is, uh…lacking in certain physical fields. You know. So I was wondering if–"

"I'll call Undyne for you," she interrupted. "Have a good night, Sans."

"Yup, good night, Tori." He hung up, finally walking over to his seat at the table and shovelling the spaghetti into his mouth. He scowled at Melanie, who looked down meekly. "I thought you said that it was getting cold."

"It was," she said. "I swapped plates." Sans looked over at her plate, and realised that it was true; she _had_ switched plates with him. "I only ate, like, half of it," she continued. "And uh, you gave me like three times as much as yourself. Plus, you've been nothing but nice to me, even if you hate Humans. And you looked stressed out by that phone call. So um, yeah. Hope you're not mad." His eyes flicked between his plate and hers, before they went to her face, her expression anxiously waiting for me to answer.

 _Shit. I'm making the kid nervous._

"…thank you." Melanie looked shocked at his response, her eyes widening. "I'll admit, ever since the war I've thought of Humans as nothing but scum. But you…" he looked back at his plate, prodding it with his fork. "…you're not scum, Melanie. You're a good person." He looked up at her face, the shock not having worn off yet. "So thank you, for helping me realising that not all Humans are bad."

"…wow," she muttered. "Did you just thank _and_ apologise to me _simultaneously_?"

"Shut up," Sans grumbled, making another one of snorting sounds. He frowned, staring at her plate, which was practically untouched. "Why aren't you eating?"

"Uh…" Her expression quickly turned to embarrassment as she tried to bring it up with her fork. "…I think it's stuck to the plate."

 **xXx**

"Sans?" Melanie called as the skeleton was washing up after dinner. It had been only a week since the day she'd mastered the Gaster Blaster. "Someone's at the door!" Sans froze turning his head to the direction of Melanie's voice.

"Ask them who they are," he told her. He heard a brief exchange between Melanie on one side of the end of the Ruins and the Monster on the other side, though their voice was muffled.

"They said that their name, is, uh…Toriel? Did I say that right? I think I did." Sans frowned, quickly zipping outside and appearing next to her. Melanie barely reacted.

"Summon a Gaster Blaster," he said as he approached the door. "When I open it, point it at them. We can't take any risks." After the girl nodded, Sans pressed his hand against the door, causing the construct to swing open.

Standing in the doorway was a Monster who at first looked to Melanie almost Human, but after a moment or two she started seeing the distinct differences. Her body, while maintaining a similar structure, was covered in white fur the colour of snow. And her head was that of a goat's, with two pointed horns curving out the sides of her head. The goat woman smiled, extending a hand.

"It is good to meet you face to face, my child," she said calmly. Melanie stared at the extended hand, prompting her to lower it. Her eyes turned towards the Gaster Blaster aimed towards her head. "Perhaps you could…ah, dispel that weapon of yours?" Darting her eyes towards Sans, who nodded, Melanie pointed the Gaster Blaster in the opposite direction, before allowing it to fire into the wall. "And Sans, it is good to see you too."

"Likewise, Tori. Always good to see you." He nodded at her, then motioned towards the house with his head. "Well, don't stand there. Come on in. We only just had dinner, but I'm sure I could fix something up for you." However, Toriel held up her hand, shaking her head.

"I am not here to eat, Sans, though I appreciate the gesture. I am here to meet the Human."

"My name is Melanie." Toriel turned to her, frowning.

"Sorry?"

"My name is Melanie. Not the Human. Melanie."

"Ah, of course," she said pleasantly. "Where are my manners? Yes, Sans mentioned that. I am Toriel, Queen of the Underground." Melanie stared, not saying a word. For a few moments she was completely frozen, every muscle in her body ceasing to move. She turned her head to Sans, who winked at her.

"Yeah, I forgot to mention her. Sorry about that."

"Uh huh." Melanie frowned, looking back at the queen with renewed interest. "Do I have to call you your majesty? Because I think that eventually, that's going to slowly kill me. Even more than the spaghetti getting stuck to the plate." Toriel chuckled, winking back at Sans.

"She has a sense of humour; that's a good thing." Melanie snorted at the queen's comment, but made no effort to reply. She began walking away, her interest dying just as quickly as it had rejuvenated. Sans watched her leave, then shrugged.

"Eh, she's a strange one. You want to come inside the house, Tori? Melanie's probably going to go practice." Toriel smiled gratefully, nodding.

"Yes, that would be much appreciated." Sans nodded back, closing the door after her before zipping into the house. Toriel followed afterwards, her eyes focused on Melanie as she blasted relentlessly at the wall with her Gaster Blasters. "Are you concerned about the damage she is dealing?" she asked the skeleton, who merely shrugged as he stared pensively out the window. Melanie had formed another Gaster Blaster, this time composed of blue magic.

"The Migosps help me out," he explained. "If not for them, the Ruins would have been _ruined_ after the first week." Toriel chuckled at the pun, despite how terrible it was. The skeleton winked at her as she sat at the table, zipping into the seat opposite of her. "She hasn't told me too much about her life on the surface. Just that Humans don't encourage the practice of magic. So yes, once again, I'm going to request that Undyne stop by."

"She hates Humans," Toriel pointed out. "Well, not entirely, but she is willing to do whatever it takes to get the Monsters back to the surface."

"Melanie could help," Sans said as he watched the blue Gaster Blaster expand, before it fired a beam of pure magic and disappeared. "She's definitely not loyal to the Humans, that's for sure. As far as I can tell, she hated it there. Down here, she not only has food and a bed, but she can practice her magic as much as she wants. She would be a good person to have on our side, if we ever get out."

"Then make sure she will be." At first Sans was confused, but nodded as Toriel rose from her seat, casting a final glance at Melanie. "I expect a call tonight."

"You'll get one." Toriel nodded at him, then quietly left the room. Not long after, Sans zipped outside beside Melanie. She didn't blink when she saw him, simply summoning another Gaster Blaster and aiming it a little to his left.

"Is she gone?" she asked nonchalantly, firing the Gaster Blaster. "I was beginning to get bored."

"You should be sleeping," he muttered. "But it's good that you're awake; I need to discuss something with you. Something important." Melanie frowned, her attention fully focused on the skeleton as he took a small step forward. "When I agreed to teach you, it was because I was pissed at you for being here. But I'm not pissed anymore."

"And what does that mean?" she asked worriedly. Sans shrugged, pulling down his hood.

"Well, it means that I can still teach you, Melanie. But it'll come at a larger price." She gulped, clearly expecting something terrible. He wondered what she would make of this. "The queen…wants to know whether your loyalties still lie with the Humans." Melanie stared. Then she just laughed.

"You're kidding."

"Not kidding."

"That's stupid. I'm not a pawn for the Humans," she argued. "Did you really have to ask that?"

"It's not just that," Sans explained. "She also wants your allegiance with the underground." This time, there was no laughter. Melanie frowned, clearly confused.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that if worse comes to worst, you'll fight by our side in the war. That is, if there is another war." The explanation clearly helped, because the tension which was present quickly died away. Melanie grinned at him, nodding.

"Yeah. I'm cool with that."

"Good." Before she could react, there was a white bone embedded into her leg. She fell to the ground, wincing as Sans stood over her, chuckling to himself. "Now we just have to get you to dodge."

 **xXx**

 **6 Months Later**

"Come on, get up!" Melanie groaned, forcing herself to get back to her feet despite the rising pain in her legs. She glared hatefully at the distant silhouette of a Monster, completely encased in a suit of reinforced armour. Out of one eye socket there was a dangerous yellow gleam, as the Monster suddenly dashed forward, one arm drawn back with a deadly long spear in hand. Melanie tensed, waiting patiently as the form of the Monster drew closer. At the last second, she leapt out of the way, tumbling on the bare stones of the Ruins as the Monster screeched to a halt, removing her helmet.

Out of all the Monsters who Melanie had encountered, Undyne was by far the most humanoid. Ignoring that she had blue scales instead of skin and that her ears looked more like fins, she definitely could have passed off for one. Her long red hair was tied back in a neat ponytail, which she flicked back over her shoulder as she turned towards Melanie.

"You've made little progress since I last came," she said in a tone which was meant to sound disappointed, but came off more as playful. "I mean, you know how to dodge, but now you hurt yourself while doing it. You're basically negating the need to dodge in the first place if you take an equal amount of damage while doing it."

"Save it," Melanie shot back, scowling at Undyne. "I don't need to be reminded of how terrible I am at literally everything you throw at me."

"Not everything," Undyne said. "Your progress is incredible when it comes to your magic. Hell, you managed to best _me_ , even if it was with the no dodging rule."

"Only because your arrows are the slowest I've ever seen," Melanie muttered. "Besides, it just comes to me. Dodging doesn't." Undyne scowled, but her expression quickly became thoughtful.

"Alright, I've got an idea," she said suddenly. "Your magic is able to take shape and form barriers, like how you block my arrows. Imagine using a barrier like that, but on yourself, pushing you in a certain direction." Melanie frowned, considering the idea. It made perfect sense; if she was able to reject certain objects and propel them away, why not herself? "Want to try it?" Melanie shrugged, shifting into a defensive stance.

"I guess it couldn't hurt." Undyne smirked before putting her helmet back on, lowering the visor. She placed her right leg forward, then dashed towards her. Melanie stood her ground as the Monster approached her, feeling magic channelling itself through her veins. She stared her down, eyes narrowing as Undyne continued to approach, her spear pulling back slightly. At the last second, Melanie sent a burst of magic towards the left, leaving a faint trail as she stumbled clumsily to the right from the recoil. However, the trail must have been largely compressed, because the Monster soon tripped over it, her arms windmilling through the air before she hit the ground. Melanie didn't seem to notice, more or less just surprised that it had even worked.

"Wow," she muttered. "I can't believe you didn't kill me."

"As if I could kill you," Undyne growled bitterly as she got to her feet. "You'd just fly away on one of those stupid Gaster Blasters." Melanie blinked, confused at what she meant.

"Fly…on a Gaster Blaster?" she repeated with interest. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, don't pretend." Undyne grinned at her from under the helmet, puffing out her chest. "I already know. You think I don't see Sans whizzing around on that stupid thing, stirring up trouble in Waterfall?" When Melanie just stared in shocked silence, Undyne came upon a startling revelation. "You actually have no idea," she muttered. "Well, how about that?"

"HE CAN FLY?!" Melanie screeched, pulling at her hair. "SANS CAN FREAKING _FLY_?! WHY THE FUCK DID NO ONE–"

"–Tell you?" Undyne guessed. "Probably for that reason." Melanie cursed, turning her back on Undyne with a loud huff.

"I'm going to skin that stupid skeleton…"

"Pretty sure that's impossible," Undyne piped in. "Even if he allowed you to, it wouldn't do a damn thing."

"It's just an expression!" Melanie yelled in frustration as she turned around, not noticing the yellow streak of magic zooming past her, before curving around and striking her in the butt. The brunette yelped, her eyes bulging momentarily in shock before the magic faded. Undyne chuckled, covering her mouth with a closed fist.

"You got a pain up your butt?" she asked innocently, before staggering back as Melanie spread out her arms, summoning a row of Gaster Blasters. "Hey, we can play this cool, right?" Undyne stepped backwards, raising her hands. "Ha hah, play it cool…" Melanie glowered at her, raising her right hand a little higher.

 _Click._

 **xXx**

After Undyne had left Ruins, her armour scorched by white lasers and her only actions being grumbling at Melanie, the Human went to find Sans, still annoyed that he hadn't told her about flying. She found the skeleton sleeping peacefully in his bed, snoring loudly. Not bothering to care about the consequences, she kicked the bed, causing him to jerk awake and fall off of it in alarm.

"What's burning?" he yelled out, still rolling to the side. "Is it the spaghetti? Was I cooking spaghetti? Oh, please tell me I wasn't…"

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked in annoyance. "You can _fly_? Since when?"

"Since forever ago," Sans grumbled as he sat up. "Is that all you came for? Because you want to fly?" Melanie hissed, but her eyes soon went to the window in his room.

"…no."

"Then what is it?" he questioned. "Make it quick, dammit." For a while Melanie was silent, but she eventually spoke up.

"Undyne mentioned another place you've never told me about before," she murmured. "Waterfall?" Sans' anger faded away as he realised what she had woken him up for. "What's it like?" He didn't reply to her, simply standing up and walking out of the room. Melanie followed him, waiting for an answer.

"Beautiful," he muttered eventually. "Waterfall is beautiful. There are these amazing flowers…Echo Flowers. They uh…echo. And then there's Onionsan. Damn, I wonder where that kid went…" He chuckled, turning towards Melanie. "Long story short? Definitely one of the coolest places down here – beaten only by Snowdin."

"Yeah," Melanie said dreamily. "It sound incredible." Sans sighed leaning on the kitchen table with his fingers entwined.

"You still want to leave?" he asked, causing her to freeze and stared at him. He winked at her, but his tone was anything but humorous. "I know how much you want to see the world, kiddo." Melanie joined him at the table, staring forwards.

"…that's true." Sans clearly wasn't surprised by her answer. He looked at her, raising an eyebrow, as if to say _that's it_? "It's just…I've been here for more than six months," she explained. "And Undyne comes and goes, Toriel stops by every once in a while…I'm just…"

"Curious," Sans said, finishing her sentence for her. "I understand, kid. I know how you feel. I'm glad that you're bringing this up now, though." Melanie tilted her head in surprise, eyeing the skeleton with interest.

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Because we're leaving tomorrow." She instantly frowned, not believing what he'd said. But Sans' expression was completely serious, his grin feeling more like a mask. "While we were asleep last night, a Human made it through," he explained. "I only just got a message from my brother, Papyrus. He's leading a defence, but doesn't want to kill the Human." Melanie stared at him in pure shock. She couldn't believe it."

"A Human got through?"

"Look, I know–"

"A HUMAN GOT THROUGH?!" Sans sighed, shutting his eyes and praying that Melanie would calm down. Her fits usually didn't last long, but then again, there had been that time when Sans had made that terrible lasagne…

"Listen, just be happy that we're finally leaving," he said in an attempt to reason with her. "We're going to Snowdin, and we'll deal with the stupid Human. I swear, if you help with this, I won't force you to stay here anymore. You can go wherever the hell you want." Melanie perked up at his offer, grinning from ear to ear.

"Is that so? Very well then…lead the way."

 **xXx**

The walk to Snowdin was a short one, with Sans taking the lead as Melanie trudged slowly behind him, taking in the large, imposing trees which lined the road they were taking. As they came to a short bridge spanning over a ravine, both suddenly heard the deafening sound of clashing metal. They paused momentarily to shoot a look at each other, before taking off at full speed, Sans zipping forwards while Melanie summoned a Gaster Blaster, clumsily jumping onto its back and holding onto its central horn. The monstrous skull shot forwards, Melanie barely holding on as she closed her eyes. They zoomed towards Snowdin, the sounds of battle slowly increasing until they finally arrived. The streets were near empty, except for the two fighting figures in the midst of a fierce snowstorm. Melanie was forced to shield her eyes, but Sans could see perfectly clearly. There was a human boy around Melanie's age, wildly swinging a gleaming sword towards a tall skeleton wearing a red scarf. It didn't take a genius to figure it out; this had to be Sans' younger brother, Papyrus.

"Calm down, Human!" the skeleton yelled as he swiftly leapt over the Human's thrust, deflecting his next with a summoned white bone. "Let us discuss matters peacefully, diplomatically, and…what else? Err…"

"Be silent, you vile creature!" the Human screamed back, swing his blade blindly through the relentless storm. "Let me carve through your inferior flesh and take my EXP!" If Papyrus felt insulted, he didn't show it. The skeleton's grin didn't falter as he continued to dance around the Human, easily dodging the slow and uncalculated attacks.

"Well, I have no flesh as you can see!" he replied cheerfully. "However, I'm told that having your flesh cut is not very pleasant. Also, EXP gathering is quite illegal, in case you were not aware. I do believe that King Asgore made that law about a century ago, though it is very likely you had not been born by then…" Melanie watched in horror as the Human boy managed to hit Papyrus with the flat end of his blade, causing the skeleton to stumble backwards. However, instead of retaliating, he simply jumped backwards, avoiding the next strike.

"He's not fighting back," Melanie said suddenly. "Why?"

"Papyrus wouldn't hurt a butterfly," Sans grumbled. "It's why he could never join the Royal Guard, no matter how hard he tries. If he keeps fighting he's going to get killed, especially against a purple SOUL."

"Purple SOUL?" Melanie asked in confusion. "What the hell is that?"

"Each Human has a SOUL," Sans began, "and each SOUL has a trait. Purple SOULs, like the Human fighting Paps, are of the trait PERSEVERENCE. You're a red SOUL though; much, much rarer."

"And what do red SOULs have?" Melanie asked. Sans frowned, looking back towards the battle.

"DETERMINATION." As Papyrus continued to duck and weave, Melanie could see a drop of sweat slowly working its way down the side of the skeleton's face. She wasn't sure what to think of it; was he nervous? "Say, kiddo…" She perked up at hearing the skeleton addressing her, turning to face him. "Remember that promise you made me? That your loyalties would lie with the Monsters from now on?"

"Of course." Melanie frowned, raising an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I want you to prove it." She blinked, not understanding as Sans continued to stare at the scene. "I want you to fight the Human, and I want you to kill him." Melanie had mixed feelings about that. She was against killing, even if she had done it before – albeit accidentally. She was prepared to injure, but taking another life was a completely new concept for her. Then again, she had to keep her promise.

"Tell your brother to come back," she said calmly, stepping forward. "I'll take care of this…Human." Sans nodded at her, then raised an arm.

"Papyrus!" he yelled, though his voice was significantly drowned out by the storm. "Get out of there!" `

"Oh, hello Sans!" his brother greeted as he dodged another swing from the Human. "How are the Ruins?"

"Come here!" Sans called out again, waving his arms frantically. "She'll take care of it!"

"She?!" Papyrus asked, but grinned upon laying his eyes on Melanie. "Oh, it's your Human friend. Alright, take the lead!" As soon as he bounded out of the snowstorm, Melanie was walking into it, arms at her sides, her hips swaying to counter the wind. The Human clearly hadn't heard the exchange between Sans and Papyrus, because upon laying his eyes upon her, he gave her a broad grin.

"Another Human in the underground!" he called out happily. "Now surely we will take care of these Monsters without a problem!"

"Do you have to talk like a goddamned old timer while reciting your propaganda?" Melanie hissed back in obvious disdain. "I mean, come on, we're in a freaking snowstorm! I'm chilled down to the bone!"

"Oh don't complain," the Human said, waving her off nonchalantly. "Once we deal with these idiots, we can leave quickly. The quicker we–"

"You really are a dumbass, aren't you?" He growled when Melanie continued to advance towards him, her steps light and uneven, but menacing nonetheless. "Why the _hell_ would I let you get away with destroying all the harmony in the underground? I've been here for less than a year, and already I can see the beauty in all of it. The Monsters, the animals, the freaking plants, they all live together, coexisting peacefully. Then you show up and start swinging a fucking sword around – who do you think you are, dickhead?" The Human raised his sword towards her, glowering fiercely as he began to walk towards her as well.

"So you're the traitor," he grumbled. "You've caused us a lot of problems upstairs."

"I'm glad to hear of it," Melanie said cheerfully, raising her hands and creating a rod of blue magic, which was still the only weapon she favoured in hand to hand combat. "After all, I always did want to go out with a bang. Oh, whoops. Too touchy of a subject? I mean, that was a pretty big boom, huh?" She chuckled, slapping the rod into her palm repetitively, catching it every time. "Now, how about we get down to business?" The Human boy didn't bother replying, instead dashing towards her and clumsily aiming the jittery blade towards her. However, his shaky and uncertain advance only caused Melanie to raise her guard even higher, her gaze edged with suspicion. Surely he couldn't be _that_ cowardly. Deciding to test him, she spun round and quickly tossed her rod towards him. The Human stumbled slightly to the left, eyeing the projectile wearily and embedding itself into the snow. Melanie cursed, realising that unlike her, the Human boy was decent at dodging. This would be a difficult battle. But then again, what kind of test would it have been if it had been easy?

Using the temporary to her advantage, she released a widespread burst of white fire, causing the boy to halt his charge as she rolled underneath and attempted to sweep his legs out from underneath him. The attempt was half successful as the boy saw it coming, but as he moved her leg caught his, causing him to stagger backwards, arms windmilling momentarily. However, he quickly regained his composure, before swinging his blade down onto Melanie. The girl raised her hands, forming another blue rod and blocking his strike with a deafening clash of magic and metal. She forced herself upwards, pushing back his weapon and clumsily kneeing him in the side. The attack hardly fazed him, as he quickly countered by pulling back his blade and sending a well-aimed punch cracking into her jaw. Melanie gasped as pain rocketed through her skull, the rod dropping from her hand and detonating in the snow, melting the crystals and blasting a spray of water into the Human's eyes. He cried out, slashing out with his blade as Melanie held her injured jaw, the pain pulsating through her head as she groaned.

However, the boy was quick to recover from the hindrance, running towards her and carving a downward arc through the air with his razor sharp weapon. She yelped as she fell backwards, the boy's grin widening as the sword almost touched her flesh. However, both stared in shock at the large white monstrous skull which had appeared in the space between them, which quickly blasted a powerful white laser towards the Human. He staggered to the left in shock, barely escaping the laser before being hit in the chest by one of Melanie's balls of white fire. The damage appeared to be insignificant, causing only a small burn mark to appear on his chest, but it angered the Human all the same, as he growled fu0riously at Melanie. She gulped nervously at his maddened cry, his sword slashing furiously at the air as she let out a blast of blue magic toward her feet, sending her careering backwards through the snow, leaving a wide trail from flailing movements.

"Stay still!" he screamed at her, hurling his sword through the air, the deadly weapon soaring just over Melanie's head embedding itself into the tree behind her. She didn't bother trying to pull it out, instead running quickly to the left; her head would probably get smashed into the handle before she made and significant progress. The boy rushed towards his weapon, grasping the handle and tugging with effort. She blanched upon seeing the purple aura radiating from the boy's hands as he pulled the blade out, stumbling back as he did so but smirking with a bloodthirsty rage. She was outmatched in almost every field; strength, agility, combat skills and stamina – which left her only one advantage. Silently thanking Sans for agreeing to teach her in the first place, she raised her arms, smiling as she summoned a row of hideous Gaster Blasters, each monstrous skull primed and ready to fire. Before the Human knew what was happening, he was hit with the force of twenty powerful lasers, sending his body flying backwards out of the snowstorm. His dishevelled form went limp after bouncing along the ground several times, lying still on the ground with no sign of movement. A lump formed in the back of Melanie's throat as she approached him, silently hoping that he wasn't now a messy pile of blood and organs. To her relief, the body seemed to be whole, despite the disjointed appearance as a result of the blast. However, she realised too late the obvious giveaway – his sword was still in his hand.

Before she could even make a clumsy attempt to dodge, the Human's sword had penetrated the flesh of her leg, Melanie gasping her blood ran down the blade, dripping and staining the snow. The boy smirked as he stood, ramming the blade further so that it emerged from the other side of her leg, ripping through her pants and painting her skin crimson. She growled angrily, throwing her right arm towards him, the appendage glowing with blue magic. The boy's smirk was promptly knocked off his face as he was struck by her attack, his own blood splattering from his nose to join hers on the ground while his sword flew with his hand, pulling itself out of her flesh. The two Humans, both injured, glared hatefully at each other as they readied themselves, Melanie pulling her arm back and summoning another blue rod as she shifted painfully onto her other knee, while the boy twisted his sword, the bloodstained blade leaving a thin trail in the snow.

Melanie acted first, using her good leg to push herself off the ground, soaring just barely over the boy's head. Their two weapons clashed, a purple fire burning in the Human's eyes as his blade began to burn, the flames spreading from his hands down to the tip of the weapon. She grimaced, summoning a row of Gaster Blasters which the boy quickly ducked under. He charged forward, blade poised to strike, before slashing at Melanie's side, causing her to stumble backwards, clumsily using her blue magic to blast herself away from him, her expression determined. The boy grunted as she zoomed away, rushing after her and dodging as she fired Blaster after Blaster, trying her best to hit him again. But despite everything she threw at him, she knew that he would only continue to persevere.

She aimed her palms towards the ground, releasing a blast of magic which sent her flying over his head once more, although this time she fired a rain of white arrows down onto him, a trick which she had picked up from Undyne. The Human growled as he managed to evade most of the projectiles, though a few managed to strike him lightly. Then he did something which caught Melanie completely off guard; he jumped, stabbing his sword into her stomach. Her body halted in mid-air, expression changing to shock. She stared at his eyes, her own widening as he grinned. She could feel blood dripping from her chin as it travelled from the wound in her stomach. At first, there was no pain, just a feeling of numbness. But it only took a few seconds for that bliss to fade. Then she was screaming. The pain almost seemed to take on a life of its own, hitting Melanie in waves of various strengths, each pulse hurting but at a completely different level. She gasped, eyes watering as she stared at the human, his grin seeming to widen as he licked his lips.

"Good fight," he drawled. "It's a pity you're about to die. I reckon we could have been buddies if we'd been on the same side…"

"Pretty sure I'd recognise the asshole vibes," Melanie shot back, her voice weak but still laced with venom. "I'd never be friends with someone as bigoted as you. You call them Monsters for what they look like…but you're a Monster for what you are. Anyone could recognise that."

"Fuck off," he growled angrily. "It's not like–"

"You're an idiot." He frowned at her, not understanding until he felt something penetrate his chest. The boy dropped his sword, Melanie falling painfully to the ground as he stared at the yellow arrow embedded between his ribs. The weapon was slowly fading as he fell backwards, eyes empty. She stared at the corpse laying before her, feeling not a single shred of regret. Six months ago she would have hated herself, but not anymore. Humans were nothing to her now. Nothing. She could feel herself fading as Sans zipped next to her, staring at the body.

"You did good, kiddo. Real good." Melanie smiled to herself, watching as her blood began to soak through the snow.

"I just try my best," she whispered back.


End file.
